A paramount concern in a modern enterprise is the ability to quickly respond to changing information. Electronic messaging systems such as instant messaging and e-mail have provided convenient tools for contacting people or groups of people efficiently. These systems provide a fast and inexpensive method for individuals to communicate and collaborate. Reliance on electronic communication has increased markedly in recent years. As technology advances, it is certain that organizations will become more dependent on immediate access to information to excel in a competitive environment.
It is also important for members of an organization to be able to effectively share identical screen images in real-time, such as text and graphics, among one or more client computers. Users typically share these images with one another using e-mail or instant message attachments. A practice known as “screen sharing” or “window sharing” is also used to allow for the display of identical information on computer screens or windows which are mutually connected in a distributed system. Nevertheless, these solutions have shortcomings. For one, instant messaging is not used for screen sharing. Instead, users are typically connected via a slow connect medium, which adversely affects the instantaneous quality of instant messaging. Furthermore, when users send large attachments, there is an overall slowdown in the speed and reliability of their networks as server capacity is consumed at high levels. In addition, instant messaging systems are generally not scalable. There is typically only one path for a message to take over a network, and past systems have lacked the intelligence to find a more optimum path for the instant messages.
Consequently, if there is too much traffic on a particular path, the recipient of an instant message may be subjected to a substantial delay.
Still another major shortcoming of existing instant messaging systems is that they do not provide a secure medium for confidential communication. Instant messaging has been traditionally conducted over the Internet, with communications sent via clear text. This type of insecure forum is often unacceptable for high-security business information. Finally, most instant messaging systems cannot track the presence of an individual throughout an organization. If an emergency happens within the organization, for example, there is no way to automatically alert the proper individuals using existing instant messaging technology.
What is needed is a comprehensive instant messaging system that allows for encrypted communication, collaborative screen sharing using the instant messaging system, and extensibility. Furthermore, an instant messaging system that is able to track the presence of individuals within an organization and to alert those individuals automatically if a predetermined event occurs would also be beneficial.